L’Espagne et l'Irlande optent pour une sortie «sèche» de leurs programmes respectifs, en dépit de possibles recapitalisations bancaires à venir

Le Luxembourg cherche «de manière agressive» selon le South China Morning Post à devenir un centre de référence pour les transactions en yuan. Le quotidien se félicite ainsi du fait que le pays a pour la première fois donné son approbation pour un fonds du programme RQFII (Renminbi qualified foreign institutional investor).

La situation est très variable d'un pays à l'autre selon l'enquête de la Banque centrale européenne réalisée entre avril et septembre dernier

Le retour de l'activité française en zone de contraction au troisième trimestre s'est accompagné d'un reflux de l'inflation à 0,7% en octobre

Le discours accommodant prononcé hier soir par la future présidente de la Réserve fédérale devant la commission bancaire du Sénat américain, qui doit valider sa nomination, a permis au rendement des obligations du Trésor américain de reculer de 5 points de base, à 2,69%.

Le Liechtenstein a annoncé jeudi son intention de mettre fin au secret bancaire. Le gouvernement va signer la Convention concernant l’assistance administrative mutuelle en matière fiscale, qui autorise les autorités fiscales de ses adhérents à demander à leurs homologues d’autres pays des informations sur leurs contribuables. Le Liechtenstein prévoit en outre d’adhérer au système automatique d'échange d’informations développé par l’OCDE, qui devrait entrer en vigueur fin 2015 ou début 2016. Avec ce système, toute personne physique ouvrant un compte bancaire dans un pays autre que le sien verra cette information automatiquement transmise aux services fiscaux de son pays d’origine.

Auditionnée devant la commission bancaire du Sénat américain qui doit valider sa nomination à la tête de la Réserve fédérale (Fed), Janet Yellen a offert des garanties aux investisseurs sur le maintien d’une politique monétaire accommodante. «Je considère qu’il est impératif que nous fassions ce qui est nécessaire pour promouvoir une reprise très forte. Nous le faisons en poursuivant notre programme d’achats d’actifs (...) dans le but d’assurer une amélioration importante des perspectives du marché du travail», a-t-elle indiqué.

Marc Peterzens, head of Nordics at State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), has been recruited as head of institutional business for the Nordics and Benelux by Henderson Global Investors (HGI). He will be based in London and will report to Nick Adams, head of EMEA institutional.

Skandia has recruited the former executive director of Julius Baer, Stuart Clark, as head of research for investment solutions, Money Marketing reports. In his new role, Clark will be responsible for research for the new Select range. In addition to Julius Baer, Clark has also worked at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, UBS and BDO Investment Management. Last month, the vice chairman of Old Mutual Wealth, Peter Mann, announced that the new Select range would probably be named Wealth Select, and not Skandia Select, as initially planned.

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership has confirmed the departure of Calum Bruce, a senior manager in its real estate team, Financial News reports. This is the fifth departure of an investment professional from the firm, which is currently in a sale phase, in five months. Bruce has joined Ediston Real Estate. SWIP is being wooed by Macquarie and Aberdeen Asset Management.

Bedlam Asset Management has moved to close its business after the departure of its chief investment officer Ian McCallum led to fears of mass redemptions.This departure resulted in an automatic review both by large investors and by one consulting firm, whose clients account for over 40% of Bedlam’s AUM."As a result of the change, that consultant revised the recommendation on Bedlam to ‘sell’. Many clients are not allowed to invest with managers with such a rating, whether warranted or not. The result is that a considerable net outflow is expected, whilst potential new clients are almost certain to delay any investment decision. The consequences would be a material fall in fee income, with resultant losses at an unacceptable level. Thus although the reception from existing clients to recent performance has been universally good, and that from prospective investors better than for several years, the company now has almost nochance of achieving a sustainable critical mass», according to a statement.

Liontrust has published an increase of 326% to its adjusted pre-tax profits for the six months to 30 September, at GBP3.8m. This was driven by an increase of 66% in earnings and an increase in inflows.

The German firm Deka Immobilien has announced that for about EUR30m, it has acquired a 3,800 square metre office property in rue Nerviens in the Europe district of Brussels, from the insurer KBC. The property will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund reserved for institutional investors WestInvest ImmoValue.

Allianz Global Investors is continuing to redefine the borderlines between Pimco and Allianz GI, including the outsourcing of Allianz funds to Pimco, with a decision to transfer several bond funds managed by Pimco to Allianz Global Investors. All funds from Allianz with the Pimco brand name will be managed by Allianz by the end of this year. The funds concerned, whose strategies will not be modified, represent assets of about EUR4.6bn. Two of the most prominent managers at Pimco who will be replaced are Andrew Balls and Andrew Bosomworth. More precisely, the funds whose management will change hands are the following: - Adireth, previously managed by Andres Berndt, will now be managed by Mattias Grein; - Adirenta, previusly managed by Lorenzo Pagani, will be managed by Johannes Reinhard; - SGB Geldmarkt will be managed by Michael Verhoven; - Allianz Pimco Bondspezial, previously managed by Michael Sonner, will be managed by Ralf Jülichmanns and renamed as Allianz Bondspezial; -Allianz PIMCO Global Bond High Grade, previously managed by Thomas Kressin, will be managed by Lars Dahlhoff and renamed as Allianz Treasury Short Term Plus Euro; -Allianz Rendite Extra, previously managed by Andrew Bosomworth, will be managed by Michael Verhofen; -Allianz Pimco Pfandbrieffonds, previously managed by Kristion Mierau, will be managed by Christian Tropp; -Allianz Pimco Money Market fund will be managed by Lars Dahlhoff; -Allianz PIMCO Corporate Bond Europa, previously managed by Michael Sonner, will be managed by Laetitia Talavera-Dausse and renamed Allianz Corporate Bond Europa; -Allianz Pimco Corporate Bond Europa HiYield, previously managed by Axel Potthof, will be managed by Alexandre Caminade and renamed Allianz Corporate Bond Europa HiYield; -Allianz Pimco Multi-Strategie Investment Grade will be managed by Monica Zani; -Allianz Pimco Euro Bond, previously managed by Andrew Balls, will be managed by Franck Dixmier and renamed Allianz Euro Bond ; -Allianz Pimco Euro Bond Total Return, previously managed by Andrew Balls, will be managed by Franck Dixmier and renamed Allianz Euro Bond fund; -Allianz PIMCO Inflationsschutz, previously managed by Frederik Wemhöner, will be maanged by Ophélie Gilbert and renamed Allianz Inflationsschutz.

The UCITS-compliant fund DB Platinum from Deutsche Bank has been extended with the addition of DB Platinum Loomis Sayles (ISIN code: LU0870309381), a fund which invests worldwide in investment grade and high yield bonds, convertible bonds, structured products and derivatives (Newsmanagers on 14 June). The management team will use several strategies, including directional long/short, relative value and arbitrage on capital structure. Loomis Sayles is an affiliate of Natixis Global Asset Management. The fund charges 2%, and charges a performance commission of 20% with high watermark.

The fund platform Fundcoach (30,000 clients, EUR600m) will be sold to Binckbank by SNS Bank, a statement dated 12 November has announced. The acquisition brings assets at BinckBank to more than EUR1bn. The transaction is expected to be completed by second quarter 2014, pending permission from the Bank of the Netherlands (DNB). The acquisition of Fundcoach comes ahead of a prohibition on commissions in the Netherlands from 1 January 2014.

The banking group EFG International on 13 November reported a “limited” increase in its net inflows in third quarter 2013. Earnings and profits were also under pressure, largely due to the weak US dollar and client holdings. “Operating costs remained under control overall, and assets under management which earn revenues (excluding non-ongoing activities) have increased slightly,” the bank says in a statement, which did not give detailed results for the quarter under review. Despite these difficulties, net inflows remained within the target range of 5% to 10%, EFG International states. In this context, the firm is continuing its growth. The bank has also recently appointed two new heads of private banking in Geneva and Zurich. The group has also scaled up recruitment of client advisers. In first half, EFG International earned net profits of CHF83.8m, up 71% year on year. As of the end of June, assets under management were down 1%, to CHF76bn, while net inflows were up 36%, to CHF1.9bn.

The new CEO of Barclays Switzerland, Simon Gaston, has denied all rumours that the Swiss affiliate of the British banking group will be sold, according to Agefi Switzerland. The firm will have to improve its contribution to the group’s profits, however. “We are 100% committed to our presence in Switzerland, which continues to offer superb opportunities for growth,” says Gaston, cited by the newspaper. According to the CEO, “Switzerland will remain one of the ‘hubs’ of the group, as some operational processes developed here have already been deployed at other locations.” The CEO of Barclays Switzerland, which has 400 employees and CHF25bn in assets under management, estimates, however, that the firm needs to “improve its contribution to the profits of the group.”

The chief investment officer (CIO) at Union Bancaire Privée, Alan Mudie, will be leaving the firm next month, Citywire reveals. Mudie had been in the position since his arrival at the firm in June 2011. He will be replaced by Jean-Sylvain Perrig, currently head of private banking mandates.

Franklin Templeton Investments has hired Peter Vincent as head of alternatives sales, Europe, a newly-created position. He worked at Fauchier Partners for seven years where he was responsible for institutional business development and client relations in the UK and Ireland.Reporting to Hammond, managing director, Europe, Mr. Vincent is responsible for new business development of the group’s alternative products in Europe. Based in London, he will work closely with the existing European distribution teams to support the growth of Franklin Templeton’s alternative products.Commenting on the new hire, Jamie Hammond said: “We see growing interest in alternative products throughout the region (…). There are some exciting opportunities ahead and we are well-positioned for alternatives sales growth both in the traditional institutional market as well as within the wealth management channel.”

To satisfy demand from investors concerned by their exposure to interest rate risks and the negative impact of rising interest rates on their bond portfolios, Fidelity Investments, whose fixed income assets total about USD890bn, has launched three short duration mutual funds, bringing the number of such products to 13, with total assets of USD34bn. The products include the Fidelity Limited Term Bond Fund (ticker FJRLX), Fidelity Conservative Income Municipal Bond Fund (FCRDX) and Fidelity Short Duration High Income Fund (FSAHX). These products are managed by Robert Galusza, Doug McGinley and Matt Conti, respectively. The Limited Term Bond Fund charges 0.45%, while the Conservative Income Municipal Bond Fund has a total expense ratio of 0.40%.

US equity funds collected USD10.5bn in October, their highest monthly inflow since January 2013, according to the most recent monthly statistics from Morningstar for mutual funds. International-equity funds also had a solid month, leading all category groups with inflows of USD12.2 billion. Morningstar observes, however, that active U.S.-equity funds had strong monthly inflows for only the third time in 2013, a year many heralded as the great rotation into active strategies after years of passive-fund flow dominance. While the trend has not materialized, outflows from active equity funds have amounted to USD15.3 billion for the year to date compared with outflows of USD131.5 billion in 2012. Bond funds, for their part, have posted substantial outflows, starting with taxable bond funds, which finished October with redemptions totalling USD8.1bn, while municipal bond funds showed outflows of USD5.4bn. Since the beginning of the year, municipal bonds show outflows of USD43.9bn, while taxable bonds show inflows of only USD32.7bn. Vanguard dominated inflows at the provider level in October, collecting new assets of USD6.0 billion overall and led by inflows of USD2.1 billion for Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. Vanguard’s market share of mutual fund assets stands at 17.5 percent, up from 15.6 percent three years ago. American Funds’ market share has fallen to 10.0 percent from 12.0 percent over the same period, and Pimco’s has dropped to 5.1 percent after peaking at 6.1 percent in late 2012.

The New York-based Global x Funds (USD2.5bn) has announced that on 13 November it admitted the first ETF dedicated to Portuguese equities to be launched on the United States market on the NYSE Arca platform, the Global X FTSE Portugal 20 ETF (ISIN code: US37950E1929), whose ticker is PGAL. The fund charges 0.61%. It replicates the FTSE Portugal 20 index, which reflects the performance of the 20 largest Portuguese caps listed on NYSE Euronext in Lisbon.

The Italian alternative asset management firm Hedge Invest SGR has announced the launch of a global macro strategy, the Hi Sibilla Macro Fund, which comes as an addition to the range from Hedge Invest in its Irish Sicav, Hedge Invest International Funds plc. Assets under management in the Sicav. Launched in October 2012, assets under management in the Sicav total EUR205m. The new strategy, manged by Lorenzo di Mattia, founder of Sibilla Capital, a company based in New York and registered with the SEC, aims for performance of over 10%, with volatility limited to 5% or 6%, decorrelated from equity and bond marktes. The fund aims for weekly liquidity.

T Rowe Price has launched the Global Industrials Fund (RPGIX), a fund which aims for long-term capital growth via investment in US and foreign companies within the industrial sector. The fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in securities issued by companies of the industrial sector, and at least 40% of its assets in securities from industrial companies outside the United States, with at least five different countries. The industrial sector includes air and defence, construction products and equipment, automotive, mechanical construction, electrical components and equipment, industrial technologies, transport, industrial conglomerates and manufacturers. The fund will bemanaged by Peter Bates, and is expected to have a total expense ratio of about 1.05%, with a minimum initial investment of USD2,500 or USD1,000 for a pension plan.

The BNP Paribas Small Companies Netherlands (EUR35m) and BNP Paribas Netherlands (EUR250m) funds will be merged by BNP Paribas Investment Partners, Fonds Nieuws has announced, relaying reports in Morningstar, which has placed the products under watch. The two funds were inherited from Fortis Investments and ABN Amro Asset Management. The first was rated “neutral” and the second “negative.”

Unigestion, a Swiss asset management firm with EUR10.4bn in assets under management as of the end of September, has been selected to manage a fund of Swiss equities from the IST Investment Foundation for employee retirement planning, it has announced in a statement. Unigestion will be responsible for managing the new “IST2 Aktien Schweiz Minimum Varianz” fund. IST, the largest Swiss independent investment foundation, manages retirement planning capital totalling about EUR4.7bn, on behalf of 519 private and Swiss public savings banks.

US equity funds have posted net inflows of USD10.5bn in October, the highest in one month since January 2013, according to the most recent monthly statistics from Morningstar for mutual funds. International equity funds have also posted a solid month, with inflows of USD12.2bn. Morningstar observes, however, that since the beginning of the year, equity funds have posted significant inflows for only the third time since the beginning of the year. Tis means that the large turnover expected at the beginning of the year did not materialise. Since the beginning of the year, equity funds post net outflows of USD15.3bn, compared with ouutflows of USD131.5bn for 2012 overall. Bond funds, for their part, have posted substantial outflows, starting with taxable bond funds, which finished October with redemptions totalling USD8.1bn, while municipal bond funds showed outflows of USD5.4bn. Since the beginning of the year, municipal bonds show outflows of USD43.9bn, while taxable bonds show inflows of only USD32.7bn. Vanguard tops the rankings of providers in October, with net inflows of USD6bn for all asset classes, with subscriptions of USD2.1bn for the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. The market share for Vanguard totals 17.5%, compared with 15.6% three years ago. However, the market share for American Fuds has fallen to 10%, compared with 12% three years ago, with Pimco at 5.1%, off a peak of 6.1% at the end of 2012.

The former chairman of Golden Tree Asset Management, Leon Wagner, has joined the Connecticut-based alternative asset management firm Trilogy Capital, according to a letter to investors viewed by Bloomberg. Wagner’s company, LWPartners, will merge with Trilogy. The new firm will be renamed as TrilogyLWP, and Wagner will be “chairman” of the firm. Assets under management at Trilogy total about USD450m.

Natixis wants to develop asset management with an objective of EUR75bn in new net inflows by end-2017, mainly generated in international markets, according to the new strategic plan. Natixis’ objective for 2017 is to generate more than half its revenue in international markets compared with an estimate of 44% in 2014. The division wants to pursue its international expansion with the development of its US platform via an investment in new range of expertise and access to new distribution channels, improved distribution in dynamic areas (Asia, LatAm, Middle East) via organic growth and the setting up of local partnerships, and finally an increase in headcount of around 500 FTEs, mainly outside France. As of end of Septembre, Natixis has assets under management of EUR619bn. Half of AUM are located outside Europe. BPCE, which owns Natixis, has also announced that in the period it is aiming for EUR900m in cost savings and EUR795m in additional revenue strategies between its invesment banking affiliate Natixis and the networks of the group. BPCE is betting on a common equity tier one ratio of over 12% “by 2017 at the latest,” a leverage ratio of over 3% over the entire period 2014-2017, and a return on equity (ROE) for core professions at Natixis of 12%.